News and Views is a twice-weekly column containing an assortment of interesting state, national and international political and financial information, opinions, candidate reviews, scheduled events, Tea Party information, meetings and press releases that we hope will interest you. We will now offer a special section segregating media bias and Hollywood bias to give the reader a better idea of how prevalent it is.
LOCAL & STATE
Congresswoman Judy Biggert (IL-13) A Taxing Dilemma
This morning, the Department of Labor announced that, despite the addition of 163,000 jobs, unemployment in July rose to 8.3 percent, from 8.2 percent in June. After 42 consecutive months of unemployment at 8 percent or higher, it’s the kind of disappointing jobs report that has become familiar. That’s what makes the current tax debate so puzzling. Our small businesses are struggling, and the result is fewer jobs for middle-class families. Yet some continue to argue that the only option is to raise the top two tax rates, which would hit 53 percent of all small business income and cost our economy over 700,000 jobs. With 13 million Americans out of work, that’s the worst thing Congress could do.
This week, the House approved H.R. 8, the Job Protection and Recession Prevention Act, to stop the tax hike for ALL taxpayers. Nineteen Democrats and all but one Republican supported it. This bill would ensure that middle-class families and employers aren’t blindsided on January 1st with a return of the marriage penalty, the AMT, higher rates on capital gains, dividends, estates and painful tax hikes on income. To date, Senate leadership continues to push for higher taxes, but House leaders have announced that they are ready to keep Congress in session through August if the Senate will act on legislation to stop the tax cuts from expiring. Realistically, that seems unlikely, but we have to resolve this debate as soon as possible and give families and employers some much-needed certainty before the year draws to a close.
Speaking of jobs, be sure to save the date for our August Jobs Fair and Small Business Fair. Details can be found here.
Rep. Walsh responds to Gov. Quinn’s veto of ammunition purchase reform bill: Gov. Quinn’s decision to ban the NRA-backed ammunition purchase reform bill is just another example which highlights his long standing record of treading on the rights of law-abiding gun owners.
Currently, Illinois is the only state in this nation that denies its citizens the right to keep and bear arms. The veto by Gov. Quinn does nothing but impose more restrictions on law-abiding citizens and reinforces how archaic Illinois’ gun laws have become and how important it is that they be repealed.
“Time and again, the state’s anti-gun policies have proven ineffective at best and un-safe for law-abiding citizens at worst,” Walsh said. “Currently, Illinois is the only state in this nation that has not passed a conceal and carry gun law. Why? It is time for state lawmakers to give our constituents the constitutional right to protect themselves.”
Violent crime in the United States has steadily dropped since the 1990s, yet crime rates in major cities in Illinois continue to increase. There has been a 35% spike in crime rates this year alone, and Chicago has one of the highest murder rates in the country.
“I took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, and I will continue to fight for my constituent’s Second Amendment rights.”
Since coming to Congress, Walsh has been on the front lines of the Second Amendment debate. He has defended the Second Amendment against anti-gun groups stressing the importance of gun rights and they work to protect residents of Illinois.
Roskam on Fox News: Reforming the Tax Code and Stopping the Tax Hike: Congressman Peter Roskam (IL-06) went on Fox News to discuss the importance of reforming our tax code in 2013, while ensuring tax rates do not go up on small businesses, which would result in thousands more Americans out of work. To watch the video, click here or the image below.
Roskam on the need to reform the tax code: We have a tax code that is not competitive. There’s no voice in the public square today that says our tax code is great. It’s not great.
So what the House will do is say, let’s extend the rates for a year but move toward a comprehensive approach that tries to create the most competitive tax code jurisdiction right here in the United States.
We’ve got the highest corporate tax rate in the world. We’ve got what’s known as an international tax system where we’re putting a disadvantage on U.S. companies as they’re competing around the globe.
We can change that and we can create buoyancy and a competitiveness that can be fantastic, and that’s what we need to be driving for.
Letter To The Editor: Tax Revolt: Sir, As you may be aware, a non-partisan group of citizens in Kendall County (Illinois) have formed a group to protest the extreme property tax burden being placed on the people of our communities. We have called ourselves the Kendall Tax Revolt and have a very informal organizational structure, no officers, no funding just a (lot) of folks concerned with their ability to afford to live here under the extreme taxation simply because they own property in Kendall County.
One of our main points is “We believe in the right of citizens to own and afford to live in their homes”. Government services such as schools, parks and libraries, etc. are worthless to anyone who is being foreclosed upon. Before these services can be useful, first you have to have a place to live. We also believe that the ownership of private property and individual rights are protected by the US constitution and these rights far outweigh ANY rights of the state, including local taxing authorities.
The burden of property tax is a principal factor that has led to Kendall County having one of the states highest foreclosure rates, and one of the highest rates of property taxation anywhere in the United States. We can no longer sit idly by while our friends and neighbors are forced from their homes so some people can receive premium level government services. Our local governing boards and elected officials have turned a deaf ear to the numerous complaints we have made regarding these issues; instead they plow forward by requesting the maximum tax levy allowed under the law, year after year. In some cases they have handed out very large salary and benefit packages to public employees as if the money they receive comes from a printing press.
We have yet to hear a single public official make a statement recognizing the difficulty many citizens face in regard to property taxes, even in this very tough economy. These people better hang on to their day jobs because changes will soon be coming to those who refuse to significantly reduce the size of local government.
Our efforts to place a non-binding referendum on the November ballot are nearly complete. We have almost reached our goal of 2,600 signatures. The ballot question will demand a 20% reduction in tax levy from the prior year from EVERY unit of local government. That’s what we want. If people think this is too much they are free to contribute unlimited funds to these entities, or they may be asked to pay greater user fees. The important point is the reliance for funding on local property owners must end now.
Our members went to the Kendall County Fair Grounds on August 2, where they received a very rude and unwelcoming person who claimed to represent the owner. He told our petitioners to leave the premises immediately. It was our intention to pay the entrance fee and come in to ask people to sign the petition. It is interesting how they have allowed protesters in the past, have a number of political speakers and have representation from the two dominant political parties on site, but a small contingent of petitioners gets the boot. I wonder if he knows how many hundreds of our supports may be avoiding his fair indefinitely?
We must be hitting a nerve with someone, but I’ll leave it to you to guess who could possibly want to silence the voice of citizens looking to live in affordable housing. We have heard all the arguments about why taxes here must be so high, not one of them holds water against the right to live in your own house, free from the ideas of the big spending bureaucrats that are ruining our community.
Greg O’Neil Kendall Tax Revolt
Time to Ban Hands, Feet and The FDA: In 2010 alone, 742 people were killed by hands, fists and feet. The hue and cry from the gun grabbers and the elite power brokers to ban so-called “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines in the wake of the Batman movie shooting is a straw man designed to make Americans accept by increment the nullification of the 2nd Amendment.
According to the very liberal categorizing of mass shootings by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, since 2010, a total of 35 people have been killed in nine separate shootings in which an “assault weapon” was involved (but was not necessarily the murder weapon). Of those, only two — the Batman shooting and the same-week shooting into a bar in Tuscaloosa, Ala. — have been acts carried out to kill seemingly random people. All the rest involved either gang violence or shooters targeting people they knew (typically family members) where having a high-capacity magazine was inconsequential.
Yet in 2010 alone, 742 people were killed by hands, fists and feet; and 540 people were killed with blunt objects like clubs and hammers. And 82,724 died as a result of reactions to drugs approved by the FDA. Only .1 percent of all homicides involve five or more victims.
The gun grabbers and power brokers claim to want to ban “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines to make America’s streets safer. If they were really interested in saving lives, they would ban hands and feet and the Food and Drug Administration.
Trump on WLS Radio Chides Obama: Donald Trump got it right; Romney will release more tax papers when……….obama releases his 1. passport info from early days 2. when Obama releases his college grades!
NATIONAL
Obama’s 2nd-Term ‘Marxist’ Jobs Plan: Progressive organizations behind White House policy have crafted specific, second-term plans for President Obama to enact a “living wage” that would force all employers to increase the salaries of the nation’s workers to meet “basic needs” such as housing, food, utilities, transportation, health care and recreation. Such a “living wage” was previously attempted in over 80 U.S. cities, many times to disastrous affect.
The progressive groups, already instrumental in influencing Obama’s first-term economic agenda, also call for Obama and Congress to enact a government mandate to force businesses to provide 12 weeks of paid benefits to employees who need time off to care for a new child, a sick family member or their own illness. These schemes, and many more, are documented in the soon-to-be-released book “Fool Me Twice: Obama’s Shocking Plans for the Next Four Years Exposed. ”The book by New York Times bestselling authors Aaron Klein and Brenda J. Elliott uncovers the template for Obama’s next four years – the actual, extensive plans created by Obama’s own top advisers and progressive strategists.
Obama tells Border Patrol Agents to break their law enforcement oaths: In an effort to “fast-track” potentially millions of illegal aliens and their family members, through Executive Order and his “amnesty waivers”, President Obama is now threatening Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials and the U.S. Border Patrol to stop enforcing existing immigration law passed by Congress, or risk losing their jobs.
Fox News is reporting that during a last Thursday press conference on Capitol Hill, union heads representing the two law enforcement bureaus “slammed the Obama administration” over what they claim is forcing officials to ignore the law and empowering illegals to game the system — potentially throwing the door open for widespread exploitation. In their report, ICE Union President Chris Crane said his officials are now required to let suspected illegals go if they say they went to high school or possess a GED. Crane and Border Patrol President George McCubbin say the President’s backdoor amnesty policies “has made it impossible for agents to do their jobs.”
Obama’s efforts to sweep away existing laws, and threaten termination if those laws are followed is fueling an ILLEGAL INVASION!
Grassfire Nation is mobilizing hundreds of thousands of citizen signers who are demanding secured borders, and an end to this administration’s lawless efforts to usher in and grant fast-track amnesty status to millions more illegal aliens.
Aurora Killings: So now it is Aurora. Another homicidal geek has gotten his 15 minutes of fame via mass murder. Amidst all the breast-beating, recriminations, and yowls for gun control, ammo control, and tactical equipment control, there are a number of subjects that no one is bringing up that should be addressed. The United States has always been a country in which guns of all types have been readily available. In the 1920s, Sears Roebuck sold Thompson submachine guns. After World War II, we were awash in military weapons. Yet Aurora and Columbine and Virginia Tech are all very recent. What’s changed?
What has changed is this: We seem to have finally succeeded in creating young men with no regard for human life. Probably there are not legions of them, but only one is too many. Their numbers cut across lines of race, education, and class. They shoot people, friends or strangers, singly or en masse, as casually as they slaughter in video games. Maybe we’ve been in a few wars too many. Maybe our popular entertainment is too violent. Maybe our educational system has failed in this respect, as it has in many others. Maybe the news media should stop feasting on these horrors as vultures do on a carcass. Maybe it’s part of a general breakdown in society.
What are we going to do? No one has a clue. No one is even asking the question. Guns are the least part of the equation. They are machines, and they do what their users want, no more no less. There is a line from the movie Full Metal Jacket that sums this up perfectly.
Your rifle is only a tool. It is a hard heart that kills.There are more hard hearts out there, and we have no idea how to change them.
INTERNATIONAL
Is Cuba Reaching Out to US to Distract from Murder?
Cuban President Raul Castro said last week he would welcome discussions with the United States as long as the talks were “between equals.” As positive as his comment appeared on the surface, it represents no real change in the position of the Castro government, which continues to deny its people the most basic human rights. Castro’s real aim may have been to distract from the mysterious death of dissident Oswaldo Paya
Canada: China Looks to Buy Calgary Oil Company
With the American rejection of the Keystone pipeline, China has stepped into the breach, offering $15.1 billion for the Canadian company Nexen. This is just the latest evidence of stronger trade ties between Canada and China. The United States has some reason to worry, as its close friendship with Canada has secured peace and prosperity on the continent for more than 100 years. But it’s possible Canada may hold off approving the deal for now, and wait to see what happens in the U.S. presidential election. A reversal of the Keystone decision could change everything.
Venezuelan Dire Human Rights Situation to Worsen
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s decision to withdraw from the Organization of American States (OAS) Inter-American Human Rights Court removes one of the few recourses available to Venezuelan dissidents who have suffered under his brutal regime. This move reflects the embarrassment of the Venezuelan regime over a ruling by the court accusing it of gross human rights violations and is a ominous sign for human rights in the country should Chavez win re-election this fall.
Iran Won’t be Cowed by New U.S. Bunker Buster Bomb
U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley’s July 25 disclosure that the long-delayed 30,000-pound GBU-57B bunker-buster bomb known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) could be used in action immediately if needed is probably an attempt by the Obama administration to signal to Iran that U.S. military action is on the table in the event that diplomacy and economic sanctions fail to convince Tehran to give up its nuclear program. The announcement is also probably another bid by the Obama administration to discourage a unilateral Israeli attack on Iran.
Canada: Spy Scandal May Weaken ‘Five Eyes’ Alliance
A Canadian naval intelligence officer accused of selling secrets to Russia may have done more harm than previously thought. Naval signals data, often shared among Canadian, American, British, Australian, and New Zealand intelligence organizations, was allegedly leaked to Russian diplomats in Canada beginning in 2007 and continuing into early 2012. If true, the Russian navy, particularly its submarine fleet, could take advantage of the intercepted radar and radio information and gain a dangerous advantage at sea.
Media & Hollywood Bias
Liberal Media Fabricate Another ‘Scandal’: In the media world, saying you believe in something is tantamount to stating unequivocally that you despise anything and anyone that disagrees with you. If you’re pro-life, then you must hate women. If you’re a fiscal conservative, then you must hate seniors because you want to get rid of their social security. If you believe in traditional marriage, then you’re a homophobe. Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy has been taking heat from the left for some comments he made presumably about homosexual marriage. The thing is, he didn’t actually say anything about homosexual marriage. Cathy only stated his beliefs about traditional family and marriage. Leave it to the media to try to make a story out of nothing.
The original interview that the media quote as being responsible for all these attacks and boycotts by the left was given by Ken Coleman on his radio show that aired on Father’s Day. The context of the infamous quote by Mr. Cathy in which he states that our culture is “inviting God’s judgment” wasn’t even about homosexual marriage. In fact, the subject of homosexual marriage never even came up during the entire interview. Ken’s question to Dan was regarding the growing problem of “fatherlessness” in our society today.
CBS, NBC Skip First Amendment Angle of Chick-fil-A, Highlight Counter Protest: The CBS and NBC morning shows on Thursday both highlighted a massive show of support for Chick-fil-A, but failed to explain one of the underlying reasons for the protest: An expression of solidarity by many Americans for free speech against government bullying. While ABC’s Good Morning America completely ignored the sizable effort that saw long lines at Chick-fil-As around the country, CBS This Morning anchor Charlie Rose simplified, “For many religious conservatives, Chick-fil-A was the place to be Wednesday. Thousands went there to eat and to make a statement – a statement against same sex marriage.” Many Americans did go as a show of support for traditional marriage, but some went to protest mayors in Chicago, Boston and San Francisco who threatened or bullied the conservative chain.
NBC Gives Platform to Kevin Spacey Smearing Romney as ‘Murderous Politician’: In an interview with actor Kevin Spacey on Wednesday’s NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer quoted the liberal star’s description of his new role in a political drama, playing “a wily murderous politician worming his way to the White House.” Spacey quipped in response: “Kind of like this year, isn’t it?” Immediately picking up on the reference to Mitt Romney, Lauer chuckled and replied: “No, no, no. Get yourself in trouble, not me
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